Statement on FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

At The Coca‑Cola Company, we believe sport has the unique potential to bring the world together and be a force for good. Through our partnerships and continued involvement with events such as the FIFA World Cup, we aim to help foster optimism and unity with the goal of making a positive difference in the communities we serve. Forward progress is critical, and we believe this can be achieved through dialogue, commitment, and collaboration across private and public sectors.  

Our involvement in The Centre for Sport and Human Rights is an example of tangible progress. The organization’s objective is to embed human rights principles in international sports events. The Coca‑Cola Company was a founding partner of the Centre and provided start-up financial support. The Centre has worked with FIFA to embed human rights principles into their host country contracts. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will have these principles embedded in the execution of the tournament.

As part of engaging with stakeholders, including its sponsors, FIFA and Qatar's Supreme Committee, the organizing committee for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, have taken positive steps to address past challenges and chart a more sustainable path forward. Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy has been working with the International Labour Organization to address many of the issues related to workers' rights in Qatar, leading to reforms, including the establishment of a nondiscriminatory minimum wage for workers, and signing a landmark Memorandum of Understanding with a global trade union for construction workers, among other initiatives.

We’re encouraged by FIFA’s advocacy, which has led to some significant reforms to improve the rights of migrant workers in Qatar.  However, we recognize that further reform remains to be done.  We are committed to the journey and performance improvement of our sports partners by engaging with them and other stakeholders to drive positive change for communities worldwide. We expect FIFA to continue working with Qatar and future host countries to ensure human rights, including workers' rights and safety, are respected in sport. We are closely monitoring those efforts and remain committed to engaging with our partners to drive positive change for our communities worldwide.